Mr. Hawthorne's Mushrooms.

If you hadn't read the title,
would you know what this is?

It's Mr. Hawthorne's mushroom patch. 
Day 1: The first little mushroom is sprouting.
 March 6. 4:26 PM

And this picture is Day 2. March 7. 1:07 PM
 We've already had our first harvest -
10 ounces of beautiful shiitakes.
After the first harvest,
Mr. Hawthorne let the patch dry out for about a week.
 During that time,
 he'd been collecting rainwater in coolers on the deck.
 As any gardener can tell you,
you can irrigate and irrigate,
 but there's nothing in the world like a good nutritious rain.
After drying out, he soaked the patch in rainwater for 4 hours.
 He then tented the patch and several times a day,
he'll spray the patch with rainwater.
Within five days his fungi are colonizing again.


Day 3. March 8. 12:58 PM: 

Day 4. March 9. 12:58 PM:

Day 5. March 10. 10:24 AM:

March 10. 5:32 PM:

Mr. Hawthorne un-tents his shrooms several times a day
to spray mist with rain water.

Day 6. March 11. 1:10 PM:

They're ready to harvest when the caps start to curve down.
 If the caps flatten out, you've waited too long.

Whoot! 4.2 ounces.


Day 7. March 12, 2012. 9:55 AM:

Day 8. March 13. 3:06 PM:

4.9 ounces

Day 10. March 15. 4:09 PM:

 1.5 ounces more.

Our first harvest was 10 ounces.
Our second harvest was 10.6 ounces.
 Mr. Hawthorne just dried out the patch,
added more rainwater, and now,
we're waiting on the start of our third harvest

Now, what to do with all these shiitakes.
I'll show you next post.